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Textures

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 8:17 am
by teresa1016
I have been experimenting with some textures that someone gave me from Florabella. I have Photoshop elements 9. I open my pic, drag the texture over the pic, Control T to size it over the pic, and change blending made to overlay. I add a layer mask to the texture. Then I take my eraser and erase the texture from the people in the pic. The problem: When I erase the texture, the subject in the picture looks dull. Almost like it puts a grey overcast on it. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong? Maybe it also removes some of the color in the pic??? I looked back at the original pic and it is not that dark.

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 9:34 am
by Rusty
Teresa,
Don't use the erasure on your mask, paint with black using your Brush Tool. Give that a try and see if it gives you the results you are after.

Rusty

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 9:58 am
by teresa1016
Thanks Rusty! I will try that after work tonight. Can u give me any tips on textures and how to blend them? I love the effect but havent been able to get mine to look right

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2011 11:23 am
by Rusty
I don't use textures that much. Don't have anything against them, just never seem to think of it. When I do use one, I often think, "Gee, why don't I do this more often."

Experiment with using different blend modes after you place the texture over your image. Overlay always seems to work well but you can get some interesting effects with some of the others: Multiply, Darken, Soft Light. You can also experiment with changing the appearance of your texture ... change to B&W if it is in color, maybe add some gaus blur or motion blur, just play around and see what happens.

The thing I like about PSE is that if something doesn't work, just delete that layer and try something else.

Rusty

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 9:25 am
by kimi_boo
oh, I know the answer to this one. :woohoo: :woohoo:

After you apply the texture you have a couple of options. You can use your lasso tool to make a selections around your subject, add a good size feather and use gas blur to blur the texture area.
But... what I have started doing lately is when my texture is still in normal mode, I will select one of the more lighter tones, and paint directly on the texture layer with a soft brush. This blurs out the texture and makes it smooth but keeps the tone of the texture. Then you can change your blend mode to what you want to use.

Most times... I lower the opacity of the texture layer to see where I want to brush. Then when I increase the opacity back. I brush back over where I brushed before to make sure it is nice and smooth.

Hope I explained it clearly. If not, just ask. :P

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 11:41 am
by mtbspike
kimi_boo wrote: oh, I know the answer to this one. :woohoo: :woohoo:

After you apply the texture you have a couple of options. You can use your lasso tool to make a selections around your subject, add a good size feather and use gas blur to blur the texture area.
But... what I have started doing lately is when my texture is still in normal mode, I will select one of the more lighter tones, and paint directly on the texture layer with a soft brush. This blurs out the texture and makes it smooth but keeps the tone of the texture. Then you can change your blend mode to what you want to use.

Most times... I lower the opacity of the texture layer to see where I want to brush. Then when I increase the opacity back. I brush back over where I brushed before to make sure it is nice and smooth.

Hope I explained it clearly. If not, just ask. :P


Naw, you have to use smaller words for me, please. :) When you say you select one of the more lighter tones... do you mean choose paint brush and using the color picker, click on an area on your texture layer that is light to choose the paint color?

Thanks,

Courtney

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 11:55 am
by chas3stix
Hi Courtney,
You bring up the color picker then click on the big color box. This brings up a paint brush pointer. Then point and click on the color you wish to blur(on the photo). Then paint away. I think this is what Kimi meant.
Chas

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2011 9:35 pm
by kimi_boo
you are gonna love me. I have been doing this for a while. So it posted in video format a while back.
took me a while to find but here you go. (at least I think this is it?)

http://jessicadrossintextures.blogspot. ... rials.html

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2011 1:36 am
by mtbspike
Thanks Chas. Thanks Kimi. After watching the video, I see I did figure out your instructions. That's a good trick to know.

Courtney

Re: Textures

PostPosted: Fri May 06, 2011 7:40 am
by kimi_boo
Glad you got it Courtney! It is a fun way to work them. :biggrin: :biggrin: